Wednesday, 5 September 2012

many will remember I wrote this up in some detail at the time with the prediction Farage would be all bluster but take no action as he makes considerable money out of his association with The EFD which does nothing but undermine UKIP's miniscule credibility and cause divisions both in its ranks and amongst its MEPs.

Sadly it seems to be all about personal income rather than ethics, principles or leadership.

Interestingly I was not alone in noting the dishonesty of the bluster and the unlikely scenario of any ethical action being taken.

Now a year later one Reg Anthony has further commented on a public forum as my Google Alerts inform me!

Here are those comments & you will note the details from Reuters on the world media stage:

A year after Farage failed to act, Borghezio reasserts Breivik stance with impunity

Forum readers may recall the shameful episode that was unfolding
inside Nigel Farage's EFD Euro-Parliament group this time last year.

One of the EFD's many far-right MEPs, Mario Borghezio of the Italian
Lega Nord, had said in the aftermath of the Norwegian massacre that he
supported the ideas of the perpetrator, Anders Breivik. His Lega Nord
colleague, Francesco Speroni, who just happens to be EFD co-president
alongside Farage, backed Borghezio up. Realising the potential problems
that these comments might cause, Farage quickly issued a statement on
the UKIP website, stating "I have written to the leadership of the
Northern League party to demand an immediate full retraction and
apology. If my request is not met, then we will suspend our membership
of the EFD group".

As the weeks ticked by, no such "full retraction and apology", let alone
an "immediate" one, emerged from the two Italians, yet Farage and the
UKIP MEPs were strangely silent too on the matter of their promised
self-suspension. Then it transpired in the Italian media that Farage had
sent another letter to Speroni, asking for Borghezio's resignation from
the EFD (Speroni's own comments having by now been entirely swept under
the carpet by Farage). Speroni told the Italian media that the matter
was to be decided during the week of 24-27 October and that he didn't
believe there were sufficient votes in the EFD to back UKIP's request,
but that if there were and Borghezio was forced out, all the other Lega
Nord MEPs would go with him, causing the whole group to fall below the
minimum membership rules and thus collapse completely. He was bluntly
spelling out Farage's straight moral choice - Borghezio's expulsion or
the continuation of the EFD and Farage's presidential position.
Surprise, surprise, that was the last we ever heard of Farage's
weasel-worded bluster on the matter, and the Lega Nord MEPs - Borghezio
very much included - continue to sit in the EFD, alongside the UKIP MEPs
who conspicuously failed to carry out their unequivocal threat to
suspend themselves from it, even though the terms they required to stop
that happening were never met. And all under the continued and cozy
co-presidency of Farage and Speroni.

The message: Farage is happy to sit with - nay, to preside over and with
- group colleagues whom he described as "morally and politically
misguided" for supporting a "repugnant ideology of hatred", if that is
the price to be paid for protecting his title and position in a
"parliament" he feigns not to recognise.

And the result of such utter moral cowardice?

Well, no surprise either that Borghezio, having been given the above
message loud and clear that he is free to act with impunity, and that
even the most severe threats from Farage and the UKIP-EFD MEPs are not
to be taken seriously, has gone and done it again on Breivik.

The Reuters news agency, in an analysis entitled "Europe far right shuns
Breivik's acts, flirts with ideas" - exactly the stance which briefly
threatened to get Borghezio into trouble a year ago - reports that
Borghezio has been happy to repeat it when approached by them now:

The Italian politician set off a storm of outrage after Breivik's
gun and bomb massacre by declaring in a radio interview that its
perpetrator had some "excellent" ideas.

The European lawmaker argued the indignant reaction was misplaced, because he strongly condemned Breivik's violence.

And yet, a year on, he still sees Breivik's stance on some issues as attractive.

"Not all the ideas were criminal. It is the man who behaved in a criminal way," Borghezio told Reuters.

This is the same stance which Borghezio took last year and which
impelled Nigel Farage to say, in a statement still viewable on UKIP's
website, that "anybody who would praise the political ideology of this
mass murderer is morally and politically misguided." It is the same
stance for which Farage made all the idle threats listed above. His
utter failure to carry out any of those threats is directly responsible
for the contempt which Borghezio has now displayed towards him, to the
UKIP MEPs, and to civilised thought.

It is still not too late for Farage and the UKIP-EFD delegation to
redeem themselves; Borghezio's latest remarks provide them with the
renewed opportunity to do so. Will they take it? Answers on a stamp,
please.